Aboriginal Marriage Ceremonies. Gna-loung and Marriage Preliminaries. Engraving c1835.

by Bouilly, Jules

Indigenous Preliminary Marriage Ceremonies in Australia, antique print c1835.
1. Ceremonie de Gna-loung. 2.Ceremonies Preliminaires de Mariage Australien. French engraving c1835.  

Fine French engraving c1835, after a drawing by Julien Leopold (Jules) Bouilly (1796-1874) for Voyages Pittoresque Autour de Monde (Picturesque Voyages around the World), which comprised a general resume of voyages of discovery - by Magellan, Tasman, Dampier, Anson, Byron, Wallis, Carteret, Bougainville, Cook, Laperouse, G. Bligh, Vancouver, D'Entrecasteaux, Wilson, Baudin, Flinders, Krunsenstern, Porter, Kotzebue, Freycinet, Bellinghausen, Basil Hall, Duperrey, Paulding, Paulding, Beechey, Dumont d'Urville, Lutke, Dillon, Laplace, B.Morrel, etc., published in Paris circa 1834-1835, under the direction of d'Urville.

Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (1790-1842), was a French naval officer who captained a vessel and explored the south-west Pacific at the beginning of the nineteenth century. D'Urville combined engravings from the drawings by his official expedition artist Louis Auguste de Sainson (1801-1887), with sketches and engravings from previous voyages (notably those from Captain Cook's third voyage between 1776 and 1780).

Most of these engravings were printed two on a page, one above the other as with this one. This is a fine engraving c1835 from a similar French publication, but as printed (with no later colour enhancement). The page measures 265 x 175mm (approximately 10.5 x 7 inches).